Gov. Rick Snyder’s new budget pleases property taxpayers, university presidents and hospital administrators while providing just enough money to keep mayors, educators and road officials from lashing out against the $52 billion spending plan.

In addition to a 6 percent funding boost for public universities, Snyder’s proposal calls for restoring a portion of a rebate, known as the Homestead Property Tax Credit, to more homeowners and changing how it is calculated so that qualifying residents could get a bigger break. The tax change would be retroactive to last tax year and continue into the future, with residents who apply first getting a refund check this summer.

Snyder said 1.3 million residents could benefit overall, in large part due to the state’s $1 billion projected budget surplus. The $103 million in tax relief, a partial restoration of the rebate to pre-2011 levels, initially would equate to about $79 per qualifying resident.

“This is about fueling Michigan’s future in a very positive, constructive way,” said Snyder, who is up for re-election in November, to a joint meeting of budget-writing lawmakers gathered in the Capitol. “Michigan is back on track.”

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But one of the governor’s Republican allies in the Legislature, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jack

Brandenburg, said he was not pleased at all with Snyder’s plan to offer tax relief through the homestead credit. Brandenburg said he will continue to push for his bill, which would gradually roll back the state rate for all income tax payers.

“He said it will help 1.3 million people, which is true, but that’s only about 10 percent of the population, and out of that 1.3 million, only 250,000 will be new to the program,” said Brandenburg, a Harrison Township Republican.

“I know it seems like I’m constantly in conflict with the administration on fiscal issues, but in this case I think that I’m right.”

The Snyder administration said the change in the property tax credit would be more meaningful to low- and moderate-income families than other tax plans floating around the Capitol.

“We really targeted in on ... people making $60,000 or less,” the governor explained. “How do we get largest return to them?”

In 2011, Snyder and Republican lawmakers eliminated the credit for about 400,000 in exchange for a hefty business tax cut that also led to higher taxes on retirement income and less in credits for low-income earners. Brandenburg said he will lobby his colleagues for a reduction in the funding hike for universities and a larger tax relief package.

After being hit hard by budget cuts over the past decade, the state’s 15 public universities would receive an $80 million jump in their state allocation, under Snyder’s fiscal year 2014 recommendations. The tradeoff is that they must hold tuition increases to 3.2 percent.

“The states with the most college graduates are those leading the way in prosperity, and in Michigan the best way to increase college attainment is to invest in our institutions creating those graduates. We view the governor’s recommendation as a significant and strategic reinvestment in Michigan’s public universities,” said Michael A. Boulus, director of the Presidents Council State Universities of Michigan.

In turn, the governor wants to reward community colleges with a 3 percent rise in state payments.

Timothy Meyer, chancellor of the five-campus Oakland Community College, said the additional investment will benefit not only colleges but the regional and state economy by providing students with a high-quality education that translates into jobs for a thriving and prosperous community.”

As for K-12 educators, the reaction was far more mixed to Snyder’s proposal to boost funding by about $1 billion compared to 2011, the year of big, post-recession cutbacks. That would amount to a per-pupil increase ranging from $83 to $110 for the state’s 500-plus school districts.

“It appears that this budget continues the micromanagement from Lansing that our locally governed school districts have been experiencing over the last few years,” said Vickie Markavitch, superintendent of the Oakland Intermediate School District.

“… This budget again transfers money out of the School Aid Fund to early childhood programs, community colleges and higher education. Of course those entities need funding, but they should have their own designated sources for that funding.”

Markavitch’s Macomb County counterpart, Mike DeVault, superintendent of the Macomb Intermediate School District, said he cannot comment in detail until he reads the entire 219-page School Aid Budget, but he indicated that he’s “pleased to see the administration attempting to restore some lost revenue.”

State Rep. Henry Yanez, an ally of the teachers’ unions, applauded the governor’s recommended 3 percent increase for K-12, though he said the past cuts cannot be forgotten.

“This budget is a start toward undoing the harm that his spending cuts and tax increases have done, but we still need to do more,” Yanez said.

The Sterling Heights Democrat noted that three years ago the governor and Republican-led Legislature cut per-pupil funding – the portion of school allocations that actually reaches classrooms – by $470.

Another issue that ran hot and cold in reaction to Snyder’s mid-day presentation to lawmakers was how to fix Michigan’s crumbling roads.

Snyder seemed to concede that his 2013 proposal to raise gasoline taxes and vehicle registration fees is stalled, as he proposed a $254 million appropriation for road and bridge repairs, which is similar to the incremental approach taken in the current fiscal year.

The state’s road builders, in a statement put out by the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, said: “While we thank the governor for his continued focus on making infrastructure a priority, we need to remind the Legislature that this one-time solution falls short of the overall annual need to maintain our transportation system, which is estimated at $2 billion per year.”

At the Oakland County Road Commission, officials were in no mood to put their best face on the Snyder initiatives. Spokesman Craig Bryson said he is skeptical how much of the $254 million will trickle down to Michigan’s counties.

In addition, while in the midst of a brutal winter that has snapped county road departments’ budgets, Bryson said the new funds will not help with basic daily operations such as snow plowing, equipment maintenance, patching potholes and resurfacing local roads.

“My hunch is that ... the majority of that will go to (the Michigan Department of Transportation), which is how most of the surplus money is being spent this year,” he said. “We’ll be happy to get any of it — but long-term, it’s a drop in the bucket.”

The atmosphere was similar at the Utica City Hall, where longtime Mayor and Michigan Municipal League President Jacqueline Noonan was not feeling particularly grateful about Snyder’s plan for a 15 percent jump in state revenue sharing.

“It is a big step symbolically, but we have a long way to go,” Noonan said. “While it will mean about $36 million more for local communities, the Legislature and governor have cut local funding by $6 billion since the late 1990s. Restoring a fraction of lost funding is not cause for jubilation from Main Street, Michigan, and it does not address our broken municipal finance system.”

As expected, the governor’s proposed budget, which would take effect on Oct. 1, asked legislators to commit state funds to Detroit as the bankrupt city tries to shore up pension funds that are billions in debt and to prevent valuable Detroit Institute of Arts treasures from being sold. About $17.5 million would come from the state in the first year of a 20-year, $350 million state commitment.

Meanwhile, the health care community may be the happiest of all with the spending plan that will be hotly debated by the House and Senate between now and June.

The hospitals’ association praised the governor’s plans and Delta Dental of Michigan was particularly pleased with the administration’s intention to expand the Healthy Kids Dental program to 73,900 low-income children in Macomb County and nearly 24,000 in Kalamazoo County.

Diana Dillaber-Murray and John Turk of Digital First Media contributed to this report.